Due, in large part, to expanded television coverage, poker has continued to increase in popularity. In the early 2000's, televised poker tournaments became popular fare and many of the competitors became celebrities. In particular, the traditional casino table game of Texas Hold 'Em became an internationally favored game. As the popularity and exposure has increased, poker tournaments have seen dramatic increases in the number of entrants and prize pools. Additionally, poker tournaments have become far more accessible in the U.S. as well as throughout the world due to the ability of individuals to participate in poker tournaments on-line. The advent of on-line tournaments has increased the number and availability of poker tournaments as the participants need not be located in a single place. Players can even participate in multiple tournaments on a single day or at the same time. This increased number of tournaments has allowed for more winners and thus more payouts to more players. In addition to monetary awards, players who win or place high in these on-line tournaments can also often receive automatic entry into another larger poker tournament.
Poker tournaments, both in real life and on-line via a computer, follow the same general method. Players register for the tournaments and when the tournament starting criteria is satisfied (generally a time, but can also be number of players) the tournament starts. Seats are assigned to players at random, and seat changes are not permitted before the tournament has started. Seats may be changed during the tournament, but only by the tournament management. Play then begins according to the rules applicable to the type of poker designated for that particular tournament.
Regardless of the type of poker being played, poker tournaments are typically played in a survival mode format, with play continuing until a target number of players is eliminated. Players typically continue play of the game until one player has all of the chips, which can require multiple sessions spanning many days. Poker tournaments can therefore become physically taxing events. When a single table is achieved in the final session, the players compete against each other, being eliminated one-at-a-time, until a single player remains standing. If there are nine players at the final table, for example, they may begin with nominal chip totals ranging from $1 to millions of dollars when beginning the final session. The first player eliminated (by losing all of their chips) would be the ninth place finisher (with nine players beginning the final table session). The second player eliminated would be the eight place finisher and so on until only the winner remained. Different awards are usually given to each place of finish and sometimes even to a limited number of players not making the final table (e.g., the 10th through 18th place finishers) depending upon the number of players who entered the tournament.
There are many different types of poker games and the forms of compensation to the winner and other players are usually based on the player's performance. However, the interest of the eliminated players typically decreases after they have exited the tournament. It would therefore be desirable to provide a poker tournament format that maintains the interest of players that have been eliminated from the tournament by allowing them to still earn a payout despite no longer competing in the tournament. It would also be desirable to provide a tournament that compensates more players.